Since 2019, the Asheville Police Department has not participatedina task force created by theNorth CarolinaDepartment of Transportationto lower the rates of DWIs, due to the program'sprohibitive cost-matching feature.
While the department's 2020 DWI arrest numbers (202) were lower than in years past, the pandemic likely had something to do with it.
Halfway through 2021, APD has arrested 127 people for DWIs. If that rate continues, the department will be slightly below its arrest count in 2019 (343) but similarly matched to its 2018 count(264), according to department spokesperson ChristinaHallingse.
The Governor’s Highway Safety Program provides various grants to local law enforcement departments, all with the aim of stopping car crashes.APD participated in the program’s DWI task force for six years, from 2014-19.
“The grant initiallyfunded the majority of the task force effort,” Hallingse said.
“As the grant went through its life cycle, the funds match responsibilityfor the involved agencies grew to a point that didn't justify reapplying,”she said.
Traffic stops: Asheville Police has pulled over 85% fewer cars this year compared to 2019
At first, APD had to match 15% of the grant. The next year the amount grew to 30%, then 50% and finallyup to 75% in 2018.
In total, Asheville spent nearly $500,000 on the program while thestateprovided just over $1.3 million.
Hallingseemphasized that just because the department no longer participates in the task force doesn’t mean it's no longer enforcing DWI laws.
“Anypolice officer at the Asheville Police Department can, and does, make arrests for Driving While Impaired (DWI). This is a standard duty of any patrol officer. The biggest difference between a standard patrol officer and the previous DWI task force officer is that the latter also had a focus on prevention and outreach efforts,” she said.
Those enforcement efforts will continue over Fourth of July weekend. APD is participating in Operation Firecracker, a N.C. Highway Patrol program that partners with law enforcement agencies across the state to run sobriety checkpoints.
The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office still participates in the program. It got its first grant in October 2020, according to department spokesperson Aaron Sarver.
Two months later, the department announced it'd be expanding its taskforce from two full-time deputies to five.
The Sheriff’s Office pays two of the five deputies' salaries, benefits, and equipment. Itreceived $408,580 from the state grantto pay for the additional three deputies and their cars.
For the first year of the grant program, the department doesn’t have to provide any additional funding.
“The match component kicks in in subsequent years, so I'm told that if we are renewed for a second year of funding that we would have a match amount of 20%,” Sarver said.
Numbers were not immediately available that detail the amount the sheriff’s department spends on the taskforce, butSarversaid it is “significantly morethan the$408,580 of grant funding.”
More:Public safety concerns rise as funding for domestic violence services fall
“The purposeis reducing the number ofalcohol-related fatalities, crashes and injuries, which benefits our entire community. Regular patrol work absolutely entails pulling people over for drunk driving, however, the Task Forceallows us to run DWI checkpoints and additional patrols during weekends and especially on holiday weekends when we know peopleare drinking and driving,” Sarversaid.
Fatalities from DWIs steady between 2011-18
Between 2017 and 2021,APDand the Sheriff’s Office eachmade more than 1,200 arrests for DWIs.
“Buncombe County ranks 11th in the state for alcohol-related vehicle fatalities,” Sarver said.
A 2014 studyby researchers atthe Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, a nonprofit that studies problems associated with drug and alcohol use, lookedat the relationship between DWI arrests and drunken-driving crashes.
The researchers found that a higher number of DUI arrests was associated with a lower rate of alcohol-related crashes. Theyestimated that for every 10% increase in DUI arrests, the rate of drunken-driving crashes decreased by 1%.
The researchers did not find a significant relationship between sober checkpoints and alcohol-related crashes, likely, they said,because very few of the police departments whose data they evaluated used these checkpoints, meaning fewer drivers encountered them.
Asheville PD 911 calls: 'I’m at the Westville Pub, there’s been a s*** ton of gunshots'
According to data from theNorth Carolina Department of Transportation, in 2019, the most recent data available, drunken driving led to176 car crashes in Asheville.103 people were injured in those crashes,and one person died.
In that year, the number of alcohol-related crashed were up, though the number of deaths was down from yearspast.
Between 2011 and 2018, the number of fatalities from drunken driving held steady, coming in at three or four per year. The number of alcohol-related crashes ranged froma low of 137 in 2014 and 2015 to a high of 152 in 2017.
In the sameseven-yearperiod, thenumber of people injured in drunken driving accidents also fluctuatedbetweena low of 66 in 2014, to a high of 91in 2011.
Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven is the cops and courts reporter at the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Email her at cdonnellyderoven@citizentimes.com or follow her on twitter @plz_CLARify.
